A Day in the Life...
by Biff
Summary: Just what the title says. R&R please!
1. Default Chapter Title

Ranma 1/2 and all the characters in this story are owned by Rumikio Takahashi.  
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A Day in the Life...  
I round the corner at a run and skid to a dead stop. Oh no. I forgot. How could I have possibly forgotten? My only excuse is the state of near panic I had found myself in when I realized that I had slept in and only had half an hour to get to school. But even that is a flimsy excuse to forget the carnage that greets my eyes. Dozens of lovesick young boys are scattered bonelessly around the entrance to the school. Most are unconscious and those hardy enough to last longer will soon loose their tenuous grip on awareness.   
I stand a safe distance back, attempting to keep myself uninvolved with the events before me. I can see now that it's almost over, the final challenge has been issued and accepted. With a mighty blow the final enemy is booted into orbit. Left standing is a slightly breathless and irritated Tendo Akane. Also watching from the sidelines I see her fiancée, Saotome Ranma shake his head slightly in disbelief.  
"Ya know Akane, everyday I just keep thinking that Kuno will finally clue in, and everyday he proves how stupid he really is."  
"Shut up Ranma", Akane growls. "If you hadn't made us late again, then maybe we could have gotten here before Kuno and avoided this whole mess. Let's just get out of here before YOU get us in anymore trouble!"  
And ignoring Ranma's angry attempts to defend himself, she rushes off. There they go, Furikan High's Dynamic Duo. That mighty young martial arts couple. The brave, the beautiful... the oblivious.   
Not for the first time I wonder what those two and all their kind see when they look at the world. Is everything just another battle for them? Some kind of melodramatic, ridiculous game that they prance through? Do they even notice the other people around them? The normal, the sick, the quiet, the weak, all those who do not fulfill their expectations of superhuman abilities?   
I'll probably never know as I fit somewhere in the last group. I, like the vast majority, simply watch the fantastic battles that rage so commonly through our streets. Yes, I watch them fight bravely and fiercely for honor and privilege and to defend those they love. And then, after it's over, just like everybody else, I start to pick up the pieces.   
The pieces of the buildings that have been so thoughtlessly destroyed. The pieces of memories and dreams and hopes that have been blasted by one more inane "ki attack". The pieces of lives that have been interrupted and uprooted once more. And then I curse whatever force it was that caused these people to ever exist. Whatever twisted impulse makes them go on wild rampages for no more reason than boredom. With no more thought than proving themselves the best.  
And then I pray for somewhere, somehow, some hero to save us from their tender mercies. I'm not in love with Saotome Ranma or any of his friends or enemies. I do not envy Tendo Akane. I do not lie awake at night dreaming of somehow becoming one of them.   
Those instead are my nightmares. Nightmares of becoming like them. Uncaring of the suffering that I cause by my recklessness, oblivious of the fear that people hold me in. Feeling like some kind of hero for defeating yet one more world-destroying monster after I selfishly unleashed it on the world.  
I remember witnessing a battle once. I have no idea which enemy Ranma and co. was fighting this time. Nor do I have any idea why. I didn't stand, gazing in awe at their mighty prowess; instead I huddled in a doorway, praying to God that nothing would happen to me. After what seemed like an eternity of terror, suddenly it was over. All was quiet in the streets again. Slowly, trembling, I uncurled myself from my hiding spot and looked around.   
The devastation was incredible. Walls had caved in, there were giant holes in the ground and piles of debris were scattered liberally around. Slowly other people emerged. Shaking and shivering just like me. I met some of their gazes. Blank eyes and faces stared back at me. Expressions that I had only seen on TV, on the faces of survivors of terrible catastrophes. A sudden loud wailing woke me from my stunned state. A little girl sobbing in loss. I ran over to see if she had been injured. Luckily she was only bruised and shaken, but the source of her grief had not faired so well. Lying shattered on the ground were the pieces of what had once been some kind of porcelain figurine. From the few shards remaining I judged it to be a little cat statue. The small child blinked tearfully up at me as I clumsily tried to comfort her.   
"It was my Mommy's," she whispered, heartbroken. "She gave it to me to take care of before she went away for a long sleep. I promised her that I would take care of it and keep it safe for her until she came back."  
I blinked back my own tears at the thought of this little girl losing such a treasured momento of a dead mother. And then, in time-honoured fashion I went about trying to fix what little I could in the aftermath of yet another "battle".  
I blink rapidly in surprise, realizing that I have been standing in front of the gates to my school, lost in contemplation. Looking at my watch I swear and start running to my first class. After all, there is nothing that I can do to make any of them pay for everything that they've done. Nothing that anybody can do. They are too strong, too powerful and too wrapped up in their own sick, twisted world to every be the true heroes they imagine themselves to be. Real heroes don't break people's houses for fun. Real heroes would sacrifice themselves to stop even the possibility of an innocent being hurt. Real heroes are the kind of people who will eventually take people like Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane down.   
Someday, I know, this will finally happen. And when it does, I and all the rest of the normal, ordinary people in this city will rejoice.  



	2. Is Resistance Futile?

Ranma 1/2 and all the characters in this story are owned by Rumikio Takahashi.  
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A Day in the Life...   
  
Part 2: Is Resistance Futile?  
  
  
Lunch time. All is quiet...well as quiet as the yard of Furiken High is ever likely to get. The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting and despite the vague feeling that I am trapped inside a pastoral painting, I feel a languorous contentment creeping over me.  
  
Then suddenly, it's shattered. A high, Chinese-accented voice carols "NIHAO, Husband!!"  
  
And so it begins once again. My attention is inexorably drawn to the brewing confrontation. I watch calmly as the inevitable conclusion is reached. A shriek, a loud thwacking sound of irresistible force meeting not-so immovable object and a wail of "RANMA NO BAKA" chases a low orbit launch. As the aftermath sorts itself out, my mind stutters in horrified shock -- not so much at the unbelievable events that I have just witnessed, but at my own reaction. For I realize that I truly have no reaction.  
  
What's happened to me? What kind of person am I that I'm able to watch these overwhelmingly extreme and violent events and yet feel nothing? Where did my anger go? My outrage? My sense of violated justice at the callous lack of responsibility of these people? Instead I found myself watching with a kind of casual interest and a vague sense of amusement.   
  
My God. Am I becoming like these people? Am I so accustomed to the everyday violence that I am forced to live with that, that I no longer notice? The realization hits me with the shock of cold water and I feel my hands start to shake. Voices slowly penetrate my thoughts.  
  
"Good shot."  
"Yeah. Strong stance, perfect follow through. Angle of exit could be better, but all in all, not a bad performance. I'll give it a 7.0"  
"7.0? Nah. Speed was too good for that. 7.5, easy. Kenji?"  
"Oh, I'll reserve judgment until we here where he landed. There's a bit of a tail wind today. Could make a difference."  
"Good thought."  
"Yeah. It's all that math. Never was too good at math."  
"Hey, whatcha think about that entrance though? Definitely at least a 9.5..."  
  
The voices drift off again as the three students amble over to survey the property damage. One part of me is appalled at the way they seem to accept all of this as commonplace. But another tiny part of me considers seriously and then whispers "7.0."   
  
It's that part that scares me. The part of myself that is becoming deadened like so many other people who live with the likes of Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane. The part of me that is beginning to revel in their fights and chaos. That terrifies me more than any of the monsters I have seen. No Jusenyko curse or ancient legend is more horrifying or repugnant than the curse of becoming like them. People who bury their head in the sand to avoid the unpleasantness of the repercussions of their own actions. People who are so convinced of their own superiority that any means justify the satisfaction of their own ends. But why am I the only one who seems to feel this way?  
  
Certainly the people who do not have everyday experience with the destruction caused by another episode of "Saotome must die!", or "We must learn the new secret technique!", live in terror. But what about the people who, like me, go to school with these psychopaths. The ardent admirers, followers, friends, enemies and various others who live on the periphery of the Tendo-Saotome circle? How do they manage to justify their cold-blooded acceptance of the extreme violence that occurs on a daily basis? The injuries, the destruction. Even if these horrible acts are shrugged off by the participants as not even worth noticing, it's just not normal. That, for me, is the bottom line. This behaviour is neither normal nor acceptable. So why can nobody else see this? When did the norms of society become so out of whack? Is the whole of Furiken High crazy or is it just me?  
  
My friend Keiko and I have discussed these issues, but only once. I couldn't bear to talk more than once about subjects that I find so distressing and she finds so commonplace. I asked her how she could be so casual about the horrific fights that we witness.   
  
"Because it is casual." She replied. "You're just too sensitive. Think about the hundreds of fights that we never even see. All those people that Saotome-san fights in different countries and stuff. And just think how Saotome-san and Tendo-san are saving the world! The fights that we see are casual to them. Someday I hope that I can see the real action. Think how exciting it would be! You just need to relax a little, maybe you should start drinking decaf or something."  
  
I quickly changed subjects at that point. Hearing the same propaganda coming from the lips of one of my best friends hurt and disturbed me more than I could ever express. My friends, my classmates, we're supposed to be the hope of the future. So why are so many of my peers blind to the injustice that is occurring right under our very noses. How can we possibly hope to improve humanity when so many of us support all that is wrong with humanity?  
  
And yet, despite my outrage and disgust, there is still that little voice that chuckles in amusement every time another fight filled with wanton destruction occurs. Maybe it's peer-pressure, maybe it's just stress, I don't know. What I do know, is that every time I see another "battle to end all battles", another building flattened, another orbital launch, it becomes just a little harder to keep myself separate. The oblivion that surrounds me is very seductive. And every day I find it just a little harder to resist, a little easier to succumb and I loose another tiny piece of my individual will to the mob mentality that is generated by these so-called "superheroes".  
  
  
  



End file.
